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FILLING THOSE HOLES

Let’s resettle back onto the discussion of plot holes. The question does arise of how can these holes be filled? We have discussed about the inconsistencies themselves, but it’s another thing to actually have to do something about it. And let’s face it. Simply saying, “Just fix it,” ain’t gonna’ help.
The reason a plot hole arises in the first place is because of a miscalculation of the importance of a particular event/scene or the characters’ motivations for that scene. So, what happens is that when we reach the edge of a cliff, we have to figure out how to get that character safely to the bottom without having her fall 70 stories from the ledge without getting injured. Because that’s just stupid.

Now is our time to use the creativity that we’ve all been given. I’ll give you a “for instance.” In my latest fantasy novel, The Pioneers: Extracted, I needed the protag, Caleb Eaves to get injured so that he would be hospitalized.

I had a massive eagle come down from the sky and try to kill him. The problem occurred when, for the sake of my story, Caleb was too injured to save himself, so my first thought was: “OK, let’s have the eagle just decide that he can’t capture Caleb today.” Even as I’m writing this I’m laughing because…that’s just stupid. If an eagle is hungry, he is not going to quit after three swoops down for his prey.

So, I had another character come out to rescue him with her powers while slaying the eagle. Problem solved. Now, the plot hole has just been filled.

The first step to getting rid of a problem, is first admitting that we have a problem. I had to accept the fact that Caleb was not going to be hospitalized the way that I wanted him to be, or else the book ends in chapter 4.

What you can do if you have a plot hole is admit that there’s a hole, and then think of other ways to solve the problem so that your character still gets from point A to point B. But the means may be different. He may have to drive a Mazda Miata instead of a souped up BMW.

This does NOT mean that you sacrifice the luster of your scene. Just think of the different approach, and then try to discover ways to make that Mazda Miata be as appealing as the BMW.

You can do it. Let the creativity do the talking. You are a writer, and writing, like any other art, has to be perfected. It’s one of the joys of the craft. It’s why they pay us the big bucks haha.